Corrugated pipe sections are used in the drainage of water-saturated soil in various agricultural, residential, recreational, or civil engineering and construction applications, such as for storm sewers. Traditionally, a drainage pipe was made from clay or concrete, which caused the pipe to be heavy, expensive, and brittle. In order to improve the cost-effectiveness, durability, and ease-of-installation of drainage pipes, it is now common in the art to manufacture them from various materials including various polymers and polymer blends.
Such plastic drainage pipe is generally extruded, molded, and cut to form relatively light, manageable, and transportable sizes of drainage pipe sections, ranging from a few feet to many yards in length. Once these plastic pipe sections are transported to their desired installation location, they are assembled lengthwise by the installation of joints, adhesives, or other coupling means. For example, one method of assembly involves the formation of a wide-diameter bell at one end of each plastic pipe section. The bell is formed such that a spigot on an opposite end of an adjacent pipe section may be inserted into the expanded bell-shaped end. During the pipe manufacturing process, an injection molded gasket is pushed onto the spigot of a pipe section, thereby forming a seal when the spigot is inserted into the bell.
Corrugated pipes used for ground water drainage are subjected to numerous stresses during installation and use that must be accommodated by the gasket disposed between the bell and spigot. For example, a large frictional force is encountered when the spigot and the gasket are inserted into the bell. As the spigot is pushed into the bell, the gasket at times is undesirably pulled from the groove by the large frictional force. When the pipe is not properly sealed, ground water may leak into the pipe or fluid may leak out of the pipe and contaminate the area surrounding the pipe sections.
Additionally and/or alternatively, the joining sections of the corrugated pipe may be exposed to numerous forces causing stress to the gasket during its lifetime. Such stress may allow the gasket to move from its desired location and allow debris to infiltrate the gasket seat. This may reduce the effectiveness of the sealing assembly.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and assemblies to attach the gasket to the spigot such that the gasket is less likely to be removed from the spigot during handling, storing, shipping, and/or installation.